Tag Archives: Vishy Anand

After the world championship in New York between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin and the positive feedback I received, I decided to start “Chess in Tweets -Weekly” in which I will try to collect the best and most remarkable chess related tweets of the week. If you see a tweet that should be included in “CIT-weekly”, sent me a tweet @ChessClassic. And if there is a big event going on, I will probably compile an extra “mid-weekly”. Why not?

#Carlsen-Karjakin

Let’s kick off with …. Carlsen-Karjakin! Oh no not again! Well, the match is over but there were some tweets worth noticing. I have to say that I am surpised and slightly disappointed that the champ himself did not write a single tweet after the world championship. A simple “Thank You” tweet to the fans isn’t a big deal, right? His opponent Sergey Karjakin showed him how to write a classy tweet after the match:

@SergeyKarjakin: “Very tired after the difficult match, and tons of the interviews?. Thank you all for your incredible support! Proud to have so many fans”.

There was some remarkable news after the world championship and even insider @TarjeiJS was surprised: “This is a big surprise. Carlsen names @GMShanky among his helpers during Carlsen-Karjakin, in addition to MVL, Fressinet and Grandelius.”

@GMShanky is GM Sam Shankland, a 25 year old professional chess player from the United States. One player was nog surprised, though: Peter Heine Nielsen: @PHChess: “Why the surprise? He also helped in 2014.”

It is good that Team Carlsen got some help, because PH really is a lousy second, right Silvio? @silviodanialov: “Let’s face it @PHChess is weak second without single original idea and zero creativity. His best qualities: He is Danish and cheap”.

Eat that, PH! @PHChess:“Reading up on twitter, it seems like Danailov waited till game 9 to call for me being fired. New record. My previous best was by game 3!”

@portisdos: “Who cares Danailov nowadays. He is like a fake Chinese vase.” @dalychess: “Have to see the funny side of things. Suffice to say Mr Danailov has his own problems!”

Other grandmasters have other problems, like the Blindfold King, @Timur_ Gareyev:

@LennartOotes: “People asked me how @timur_gareyev recovers from a 19-hour Blindfold Chess #WorldRecord. Well, he just ran into a glass door. #human”.

@chessninja: “Should’ve kept the blindfold on”

You may have missed this tweet when you do not live in India: @chessbaseindia:“Responsible for World Championship 2013 J. Jayalalitha is no more. She ensured a hefty prize fund which was twice as much as New York 2016.” @MarkTWIC: “I remember Jayalalithaa Jayaram from the Anand vs Carlsen match. She’s had tumultuous time since and has now died.”

(After the world championship 2012)

Vishy Anand tweeted: @vishy64theking: “#Ripamma Articulate & brave.She will be missed for her persona & charisma.As TN mourns its great daughter lets be together in its dark hour”.

You can read more about “Amma” , as she was called, in my world chess championship blog “Mate in Chennai”.

#LondonChess

Before we go to London, there was some breaking news from Oslo: @TarjeiJS: “BREAKING: Oslo officially announcing that they want to host @MagnusCarlsen’s WC match in 2018.”

That’s great news, but there is a twist: @TarjeiJS: “Obviously still a long way to go, still searching for 6-7 million Euros in funding, but it’s a good start anyway.”

I will surely follow the story here in CIT Weekly, but since we are still in 2016, let’s see what’s going on in the last month of the year. Is there something going on in London perhaps? Oh yes, the darts world championship in Alexandra Palace will start soon! Anything else?

@cyberella:“London Chess Classic 2016 – love, love, love”.

The London Chess Classic, the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2016, from 9-18 December is one of the highlights of the chess calender. I know the organizers would love to get my handle @ChessClassic, now they have to deal with @London_Chess. Follow that account to keep up to date with the games and hot news. Do also add @grandchesstour to your observation list. The hashtag that is often used is #londonchess. And do not forget to visit the website.

@munroel:“Who needs world championship matches when we have #londonchess!”

Let’s have a look at the first two rounds with some exciting games: @elgransenor1: “Has Malcolm Pein had a word with the players? London Chess Classic seems a lot less boring than normal.”

(picture by @LennartOotes)

@chessbaseindia:“Tournament director Malcolm Pein makes sure that the London ChessClassic happen every year with great pomp and splendor!”

It’s never dull when this “no-handshake” game is scheduled: @thechrisgale: “Kramnik is playing Topalov!!! Topalov is playing Kramnik!!! Holy cow”. Another interesting game @chessbaseindia: “Hikaru Nakamura turned 29 on 9th December. But he had a forgettable birthday as he blundered big time on move 13.”

Poor Naka. Happy birthday! But who was his opponent?

@dukhe64: “So wins over Nakamura, So close to the magical 2800 and So close to being US 1.. So when does he play against Caruana!?”

In the second round , So won again: @london_chess:“Wesley So beats Adams, storms to 2/2 and becomes the 12th player in history to cross the 2800 mark! Congratulations!”

@cristianchirila: “Wesley is in beast mode. He makes it look easy, must be terrifying for his rivals”.

@grandchesstour:” Congratulations again to Wesley So!”

Good job, Wes. We will see if he can keep the pace in the next edition of “Chess in Tweets Weekly” and I will also check tweets about the other players, like Anish Giri, the only player with two draws after two rounds, What a surprise. Therefore, the last tweet goes out to @ainfranco:“Giri love draws more than the sex and the ice cream!!!”

Sunday 11.12 update: “Happy birthday to the living legend @vishy64theking!”

Your blogger will be at the London Chess Classic on Tuesday. Send a tweet to meet and greet @ChessClassic!

This is my last twitter summary of the Chess World Championship 2016. I compiled no less than 22 (!) Twitter reports. Enough is enough!

Let’s start with two tweets by former world champion Vishy Anand.

@vishy64theking: “Congrats to Magnus Carlsen . Sometimes hanging in long enough is more important than playing best moves.”

But Vishy did not forget the challenger: “Sergey Karyakin played a great match. Was extremely close & nearly there. Congrats on a great fight”.

Vishy knows what he is talking about . Personally, this match in New York reminded me of Vishy’s match against Boris Gelfand in 2012, because there are some striking similarities: the draws, the boring games, the angry reactions from the chessworld and the exciting tiebreak. An out-of-form champion had to fight until the very end against a well prepared and motivated challenger in a tiebreaker to keep his title. In the end pure class prevailed. Just like in 2016.

Gelfand and Anand in Moscow 2012. Picture taken from my blog Mate in Moscow.

Another similarity: @olimpiuurcan:” It’s easy to forget that Carlsen was down in this match and written off by some. In many ways, it is a pretty remarkable comeback story.”

We saw the same scheme in 2012, when Vishy lost game 7, but he was able to hit back immediately in game 8. And who does remember the 22 moves in game 12, when Anand played white? Just saying.

@ddtru:“Karjakin is like Bronstein, Gelfand or Leko. They didn’t win, but they proved it was possible to fight the World Champion”

Another former world champion has something to say as well: @Kasparov63:“Congratulations to Magnus! His lack of preparation angered the goddess Caissa, but not enough to drive her into the drab Karjakin’s arms.”

I guess, Kasparov had his 2000 match against Kramnik in mind, in which he was completely outprepared and did not win a single game. I do not understand this tweet, and I am not alone:

@glarange72: “Only the great GK could manage such a backhanded compliment… “

@isavulpes: “No idea where Garry is coming from with that statement, Magnus won the opening battle in almost every game”.

I think @nicholasiking has a spot-on response: “Didn’t Carlsen consistently get an advantage out of the opening? Seemed like technique failed him more than preparation”.

And I repeat this tweet by @Eljanov: “Sergey is fighting like a lion-huge respect towards him. But the question is still open: for what they spent one million for preparation?”

More tweets after the match: @chessninja: “Russia Today reporting that Sergey Karjakin has finished second in a major international chess event.” @ddtru: “There is another version of this joke: “Carlsen only finished next to last place, while Karjakin got silver”.

A bit harsh, but still funny. Others are happy that the match is over: @srikanth_govind: “Relieved……that the match is over!! The likes of Alekhine, Tal, Fischer will squirm in their coffin!”

Did you find the match exciting, Hikaru Nakamura? @gmhikaru:“First WCH since I became a serious player in which I literally did not follow a game live for more than 5 minutes at any given time.”

@swedishjun knows why: “Normal reaction from a guy who has been humiliated in blitz a month ago by Magnus”.

We should not forget one important match detail: @GMAlexColovic: “Moral of Carlsen-Karjakin. Always wear white NBA socks for the tie-breaks!” @haraldbb:“White socks with dark suit. Very Letterman. When in Manhattan, do the Broadway”.

@nbaontnt: “When you’re the World Chess Champion, but ball is life..”

@mashamener: “World champion in white socks: The Magnus “.

@vanadis_u9: “Mr Sergey Karyakin had the best preparations for the worldchess 2016 bringing enough socks to last until day 13.”

Many Norwegians are just happy that they get some sleep again: @TarjeiJS:”One fifth of Norway’s population (764.000) followed every single minute of the Carlsen-Karjakin tiebreaks, NRK reports. Wow!”

Another wow goes out to the brilliant Peter Heine Nielsen: @itherocky: “@PHChess has been the Part of the World Champion’s Team for the Last 10 years! With @vishy64theking and @MagnusCarlsen” . PH tweeted: @phchess: !“Thanks a lot! Mexico City 2007, Bonn 2008,Sofia 2010,Moscow 2012,Sochi 2014 and now New York 2016 ? Great memories indeed!”

One last tweet to end the coverage of the match: @JimCorrigan: “Inspired by #CarlsenKarjakin, I am going to keep playing chess against random bozos on the Internet. And probably losing.”

Thanks for reading and liking my Twitter coverage of the Chess World Championship 2016. Hit that PayPal button to keep the blog going! Thanks.

The world chess championship 2014 is over. After his win in the 11th game world champion Magnus Carlsen tweeted:

@MagnusCarlsen:“A big thanks to everyone who supported me on this interesting journey. Two down, five to go.”

His opponenent also tweeted after the last game: @Vishy64TheKing: “As i sit down tonight there are many thoughts and one thought comes to mind. Last december I thought to myself You are not a quitter.”

and added: “And I can say I feel proud to have played in Sochi. I enjoyed the journey.Magnus played a better match. This is his moment. Congrats”.

An ex-world champion congratulated Carlsen: @Kasparov63: “Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for defending his world championship title, and doing it in style today with a great win!”

and added: “Magnus said “2 down, 5 to go,” referring to my 7 successful world championship matches. (6.5 really.) I wish him the best of luck!”

and added: “Now we just need Vishy to admit he was chatting to Kramnik on Skype every night :)”

More reactions from top players: via @chess24.com: “Aronian: “I’ve never seen a World Championship match with quality games. They’re over-prepared so they commit mistakes during the games”.

A statement by Hikaru Nakamura aka @GMHikaru: “Also to clarify about the WC match since everyone is going insane. I simply thought Carlsen’s quality wasn’t as dominant as last year.”

A future challenger tweeted: @fabianocaruana:“Congrats to Magnus on another big success! Unfortunately,I was traveling today and missed watching the decisive game.”

Talking about challengers: @elgransenor1:“What’s likely is that Carlsen’s next challenger will be someone even younger than he is. Caruana and Giri are both huge future threats.”

@TigerKatten:“I’m rooting for real candidates matches next time around, in order to find the most challenging opponent for Magnus.”

And a tweet by @SilvioDanailov:“Another black day for Makro&friends “FIDE” This is only the beginning”

Norway went nuts, of course. @TarjeiJS:“2,7 million Norwegians (half of the population) watched at least a minute of Carlsen-Anand on tv. That’s +16 % compared to 2013”

@palewire: “Norwegian news has system for readers to make Magnus Carlsen themed Xmas chess sweaters”

Closing ceremony

There was a closing ceremony on Tuesday. Why can’t the winner of the match get his medal and trophy after the last game? Is it really necessary to organize a 30-minute ceremony, two days after the last game?

@anandcarlsen14: “Medals awarded to the players by President Putin are made by FIDE/Agon and Adamas, Russia’s premier jewelry company”.

@kajasnare: “Putin making Carlsen wait … 30 min delay.“

@TarjeiJS:” I can imagine at least one person who is bored to death now. 34 minutes delay and counting”.

@MarkTwic:“I don’t know about other people but I’m kind of getting bored now”.

@dscaper: “Russia and FIDE still haven’t figured out the most important man in the room should be the World Champ, not the presenter.”

and added: “Magnus should get up and walk out – not there for Putin.”

After Putin arrived, the ceremony finally started: @makvikne: “Carlsen, Anand and Putin on the stage together; Inspiration for the next Chess musical?”

@ChrisBirdIA: “Carlsen gets a nice shiny gold medal, a big trophy and a Christmas wreath, just in time for the holidays”.

@Pookita: “I know it’s tradition but that wreath belongs on a door somewhere – or maybe on a horse that just won”.

Do we really want to look back at the shortest game of the match? I don’t think so: @ChessLive_es: tweeted “Decepcionantes tablas en la 9ª partida del mundialCarlsenAnand.“, and added this wonderful cartoon by Wadalupe:

@agostobrizuela:“I get the impression that Magnus Carlsen is out partying every night during this world championship match.”

One more tweet about the Berlin defence: @nigelshortchess: “When I become FIDE President, the first thing I will do is ban the Berlin”.

@harrypillsbury:“When I become FIDE chess president, I will reinstate the zonal system and the 24 game WCM every 3 years“.

Game 10 – the tweets

Let’s go to the game. What to expect? @ginger_gm: “Expecting some violence today after two rest days. Maybe we will see a Nimzo on the board!?”

@bennedik:“Game 10 prediction: Anand castles long against the Queen’s gambit line from game 8”.

Wrong guess! @vishalsareen: “This is it.. Grunfeld Qb3.This is the game we all wanted! Let’s see who is better prepared! This will be strictly homework”.

Lots of top grandmasters follow the game on Twitter: Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Erwin L’Ami and Paco Vallejo, to name just a few. Here a a few tweets about the opening:

@anishgiri:“Very peculiar choice by Magnus, I don’t know who can come up with the idea to play this line in the must-not-lose situation.”

@fabianocaruana:“The gloves are off”. @rajachess: “Well… Close to equality. But press by white!” @chessidharta: “Vishy pressing again . Magnus seems to have problems against 1.d4”.

@erwinlami: “One thing is clear; 1.d4 is virtually an ‘only move’ when you play a World Championship match.”

Another game, another Berlin, another draw: for the sake of completeness I compiled this edition of Chess in Tweets for posterity.

I want to open this edition with a quote by Bobby Fischer:

“But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt. He wanted to change the rules [of chess] already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative.”

Chess24 commentators doing a Magnus!

Game 9 in 9 tweets

1. @Jaircabra:“Tired of waking up at 6am, but I know next game will be worth it!”

2. @LarsNygaard:“Magnus managed remis while half asleep yesterday. He should have a good chance of winning today.”

After the long game on Monday, it seemed that the chesstwitter community had enough of chess and twitter for a while. Obviously most followers had to go to bed or had dinner, and logged off, since the number of tweets after the game had finished was negligible.

@category5Moron: “7 hours and still no pompom show yesterday, nor a drinks break. They should introduce half-time in chess”.

@MarkTwic had a rough day at the office on Monday: “Did anyone grab the games from the Chinese rapid event this morning? Was so exhausted after yesterday couldn’t get up to do it.”

The editors at the Dutch service “Teletekst” must have been sleepy as well, when they compiled this page:

Spot the error! Dutchies @peterdoggers and @anishgiri tweeted: “Ask them why it’s so hard to correct this mistake (green text)”. “Told them days ago.”

As usual, a number of tweeters predicted the opening: @terendle: Will we see another new opening from Magnus today? I say no – perhaps a repeat of the QGD, but obviously a different line!

@GMJanGustafsson: “Random predictions: -1.d4 -Another Queens Indian -Draw”, followed up by: “Did I predict a Queens Indian? I meant to write Queens Gambit of course :)”

@garylanechess: “As I predicted a Queen’s Gambit. A safety first approach by Magnus.”

@nigelshortchess: “Looks like a typical condom variation from Magnus: to be used once and thrown away”.

@TarjeiJS:“Nigel Short is making headlines in Norway with the “condom opening” tweet.”

9….Re8. A new move? Let’s check twitterland:

@chess24.com: 9…Re8 and the jacket comes off!

GM Abhijeet Gupta aka @iam_abhjieet tweeted: “Inside news: Vishy does know about this Re8 move,Lets see how good his memory is”.

Talking about memory: this tweet gives me the opportunity to post a scan of a lovely ad I have in my archive:

He may need these pills to remember the games @GMJanGustafsson found with 9….Re8: “The greatest predecessors to play 9…Re8 are Janowski 1898, Marshall 1927 and Zviagintsev 2013. That counts as offbeat”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Surprised Carlsen is playing such a risky variation.No doubt he analysed it,but it’s hard to account for all White’s options”.

However, Magnus seemed to feel comfortable and went to sleep:

@pogonina: “Magnus shows his sharp interest in the position by falling asleep already (facepalming?)”

@anishgiri: “Magnus seems/acts hangover. Might not stop him from making an easy draw though”.

@joshfriedel:“Judging by the nap Carlsen is taking, it looks as if he still thinks he is playing a Berlin”.

@enthousiastchess: “♫ ♬ Wake me up when the endgame comes ♩ ♪ ♫ ♩”.

@wigum: “I’ve heard about walkover in some sports, but sleepover? Fantastic, I just love this man.”

@pookita:“The real Magnus is fully awake and calculating at the board in some other reality stream.”

@rajachess, aka world class grandmaster Teymur Rajabov: “World Champion has the right to sleep”.

Easy day at the office for the handful of journalists in Sochi?

After two hours of play @TarjeiJS tweeted: “This should soon be over. The journalists are already preparing for the press conference and a short day at work”

@Berlin_Endgame: “If I was Carlsen / Anand I’d play this on for another three hours just to annoy the muppets who whined yesterday.”

@vishalsareen: “Is this game one of the reason why the phrase ‘Damp Squib’ was construed the way it is?”

@nigelshortchess:“A very dull game. Anand was surprised and ducked the critical continuations at an early stage. Not fatal, but tempus fugit”.

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy won’t be too troubled by today’s game. He’s clearly in a better place than last year psychologically and knows he still has a chance.”

@GMRobinVK: “Magnus looked extremely tired today, incidentally he also has to take a doping test.. hm…”.

Does the doctor check if Vishy took some of the memory pills?

@sellig1947:“Magnus keeps mumbling during press conferences.Barely audible.Is he on drugs? We shall know very soon ;-)”

“Is the FIDE President subject to any doping tests, or indeed any assessment of his fitness for office?” asked @backranktristan

Rest day- not only the players need a day off:

@MarkTwic: “I can’t say I’m all that sorry there’s a short day today. Very long day yesterday with the game and TWIC magazine. Tense game ahead.”

There is a rest day on Wednesday: @reachsvara: “Ever since that Apple was bitten, “What will you do during Rest Day?” has ALWAYS puzzled mankind”.

Ellen Carlsen tweeted: @ellenoec: “Can’t complain about a draw with black, guess both players were quite exhausted after yesterday’s game.. And so are we ;)”

One final tweet for today: @ETFroggy:“These two chess players might be pretty good but they don’t have as cool a name as Levon Aronian”-

Heading into the middle game, @FabianoCaruana tweeted: “Magnus is playing safe and solid – slight edge and a bit of suffering for black, but usually this ends in a draw.”

A slight edge for white, maybe more @GMJanGustafsson? “Is today gonna be the biggest contribution to bringing down the Berlin wall since David Hasselhoff?”

In an interview with German magazine TV Spielfilm in 2004, US actor David Hasselhoff was quoted as saying, “I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie” – a comment he later denied having made.

Back to the game….. is black still ok?

@Jonathan_Rowson:28. Ng3. Tense. No exchanges any time soon. Could be one of those games that seems deadly dull until it completely catches fire. @nigelshortchess:” It is a surprisingly awkward position for Anand, despite the limited material. The odd imprecision and he could be in trouble”.

@ecm_man: “Kasparov was a killer, whereas Carlsen is a torturer on the chessboard”.

Norwegian chess reporter @TarjeiJS is getting nervous (or bored) and shows us around the venue: “Taking a walk outside the press room”.

A crucial move was played when Tarjei was on the way, and of course the move was played during the commercial break: 28…Ne5

@Olimpiuurcan: “The directors behind this official live broadcast surely know when it’s the exact wrong time to go for a break.”

Ne5. Sounds familiar.

@athreyaa:“No No No Vishy – You were supposed to play Ne5 in the last game. Not today. 😀 :D” and@GMJanGustafsson agrees: “I can’t shake the feeling Ne5 was a better idea in game 6 than in game 7”.

@balaajim: “The irony Ne5 would have won the last game, this time it could be the losing move”.

@TerEndle: “So, now a very tricky ending – and a must hold for Anand if he’s to have any chance in the rest of this match!”

@hansenchess: “Not sure what to make of the endgame. Will sit back, relax, and try to learn.”

@Chessnotes: G7: If you need real entertainment laughs, watch engine evals wheeling around trying to get a handle on this position.

Boring? Take up draughts!

@TarjeiJS: “Carlsen trying to bore Anand to death now. This game may take another 150 moves or so”. @avinair: “Amazing how such a long match gets boring even for the players”. @KeyurK2: “This is boring…Can we have a blunder please ?”

@Jonathan_Rowson:“The game is likely to last beyond 100 moves, and there’s an outside chance it might get to 200 moves.”

@spandalai: “Its a war of attrition. Likely draw, but with Carlsen you never know. Intriguing stuff”.

@vermynhath:“Why are people moaning – “dry?” “arid”???. If you cant enjoy this, take up draughts.This is chess at it’s purest. Fantastic”.

Draw!

The game went on and on and on…..

@ollie: “Nearly six hours, and 73 moves, into this one….”

@erwinlami: “Very impressed with the tough decision of going 70…bxc4! and absolutely sure that Vishy will be holding this game now”.

@aakaashn: “I don’t see Anand losing this game in this universe.”

@thelittlehart: “Now is the time for the janitor to come in to the room rattling the keys.”

Before we going to have a look at the tweets of Game 6, let’s ask @TarjeiJS about the weather and the traffic in Sochi:

“Another beautiful day in Sochi”.

@ChessClassic: “Quite a contrast to Chennai. Or Moscow.”

TarjeiJS: “It’s like night and day”. @portisdos:“I thought it was a lost Russian estapa place like some journalist wrote.”

Let’s go to the tweets of game number six now, Any predictions, people?

@FuriousRoger: “Have a feeling Carlsen will play an unorthodox opening for the sake of it & get his fingers burned a la Aronian at Candidates”.

@GMJanGustafsson: “I am giving 3-1 odds on anything but 1.e4 today”.

@JLangstrand:“So far, I’ve been wrong with every prediction about Carlsen Anand. So I’ll just stop guessing and enjoy the match”

@Dizneyrascal64:“Get yourself a cup of tea and a blanket and settle in for 6 hours of chess”.

And the winner is….. @bennedik:“My prediction for today: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 and a different Anti-Sicilian.”

The opening – bad weekend choice

“The Kan! Big surprise (at least for me)“, tweeted @FabianoCaruana. @anishgiri: “Wow, Vishy goes for the Kan variation? That’s known to be a good choice in open tournaments against patzers. :)”

@bennedik:“I didn’t predict an open Sicilian, but I am very happily surprised.”

@Surewin_racing: “Why does Carlsen always go for the most boring lines possible? :(“

@GiddinsSteve:” Easy to criticise Vishy’s opening choice, but less easy to avoid boring position when Black v opponent who chops Q’s at every opportunity.”

@nigelshortchess:”The importance of openings is greatly overestimated by the public. However, not today. Vishy got a passive position very quickly.”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy plays Kan without Caro, as far as I know, for the 1st time. It’s a favourite choice of mature players; solid & flexible.”

Not everybody was delighted about the opening choice, Hikaru Nakamura does not like mature players, obviously:

@GMHikaru:“Absolutely hate Anand’s opening choice today.”

@GMjtis: “This is not the way VA should be playing the Sicilian. This feels like a Chennai defence”.

@pogonina: “The only reason to employ this line for Anand is to send a message “I can hold even in YOUR type of positions”. Otherwise it’s strange…”

@rajachess: “Terrible choice by Anand today. Just worse,being worse on Saturday all day long is unpleasant,bad week-end choice”

Middle game

@iam_abhijeet“: This type of positions is exactly what one should avoid against Carlsen,It would be !? to see how MadrasTiger defends this one“. @chesscampeona: “Magnus must feel like a kid in a candy store right now”.@LaffenG : “Are you okay Mr Anand ? Looks like your cought with your pants down by Mr Carlsen”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Passive and unpleasant position for Anand – something went very wrong. Now we can settle down for a long grind”.

Any news from the commentators?

@chess24.com:“Sopiko returns to commentate alongside Peter Svidler”.

@polborta aka Peter Svidler: “In reply to the general clamour for Ali G to join the commentary – I agree wholeheartedly, he would be great. But he’s returning home today.”

How to comment the 26th move by Carlsen? Kd2? Engines go wild.

@MadsStostad: “Hvor var du da Anand brakk pila?”

@ChessMike: “Twittersphere blows up with Kd2; reacts against press for asking about it repeatedly. Biggest moment in either match needed several angles.”

@SergeyKarjakin:“When Magnus blundered with Kd2, I was in the playing hall, and wanted to scream NE5!!! It could have changed chess history I guess;-).”

@Kasparov63: Every time there is a bad blunder in a WCh game it’s called “the blunder of the century” but the stress & tension lead to mistakes.

@GMGawain: “Wow just saw the bizarre mutual blindness in Carlsen-Anand. Makes me feel slightly better about the standard of my last two games!”

@GMHikaru: “Anand moving much too fast. Such a shame.”

@ChessNinja: “No top player has made more hasty blunders in technical endgames than Anand. He gets bored, impatient; always been so”.

@Chessbase:” If there was any doubt whether they saw it, this picture of Anand breathing out deeply says it all.”

@Kasparov63:“Amazing double blunder in Carlsen Anand today. Blunders are not that unusual in world championship matches, but returning the favor is!”

@bennedik:“This game is like a bad dream. It would be very sad if it decides the match.”

@gregshahade: “Wow these Anand and Carlsen guys are huge n00bs”

@FabianoCaruana: “I imagine they’re both horrified with how they played today, but Magnus can console himself with a point closer to the title”.

@johnrhartmann:“After today’s double blunder, it appears that I actually _can_ play like both Carlsen and Anand”.

@chesscampeona: “If I feel so bad for Anand, I can only imagine what he feels. He needs a hug.”

@FabianoCaruana:“Shocking blunders… Vishy won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Post mortem

@reachvsara:“‘Vishy – can you describe being the loser of this game?’ What a brilliant question”.

@theclosetgm:“Seriously, are these real, trained journalists or just a bunch of chess groupies pretending to be journalists?”

There was a rest day on Thursday, but there was still a lot of chess going on in Sochi on Thursday and Friday: @chessblog: “Tal Memorial as two-day Superpowered Blitz in Sochi”.

One of the players had a busy schedule , particularly on Friday: Peter Svidler aka @polborta: “11 more rounds of blitz, and then back to the booth for G5 of Carlsen- Anand. I can definitely see the day ending in a stiff drink (or three)”.

@fstimjp: “11 rounds (of blitz) is quite tough to play.” Really?

One of his fans obviously had a drink or two: @harrypillsbury: “A beer, world championship game and Peter Svidler’s astute commentary. The most fun you can have with your clothes on!”

Who won the blitz? @ChessVibes has the answer: “Mamedyarov wins the prestigious Tal Memorial Blitz event and its $20,000 first prize. Grischuk got close, but ended second.”

@RobertRis: Not bad for two days working 😉 @MarkTwic: “Easier money than the Grand Prix!”

The final table, provided by @ChessVibes. Click to enlarge.

@fstimjp:“What happened to the good old days with 5 min, no increment, and an analogue clock, Insa or Garde?”

Game 5

Ready for game five? Just before the game started, Simon Williams aka @ginger_gm tweeted: “About to go live with Irina Krush in 5 minutes. Can’t wait for the action!”

Ahum, Simon, we are talking about chess, aren’t we? 😉

@ShekharGupta:“If u love any sport at all, go to Carlsen-Anand now! This incredible slugfest of mind more thrilling on Twitter than any live cricket on TV”.

@nigelshortchess: “We have gone about 10 minutes without someone calling me a “faggot” Good day so far”.

@anishgiri:“Early to say, but looks like Magnus did his homework this time. If Anand is unfamiliar with it, a quick draw is likely”. @GMRobinVK: “Not a very exciting game, but good preparation by Magnus. Maybe he’ll end up a tiny bit worse but this will be drawn”.

@chesscampeona: “I don’t want to “read” or “hear” the word draw so early in the game.”

@fstimjp:“Black is slightly awkward.” Any symbol for that?”

@GMHikaru: “Carlsen is worse, but he should draw relatively easily. I don’t understand the commentators at all.”

@anishgiri:“Wow, surprised, Anand doesn’t even try, though wasn’t all that much anyway, probably.”@FabianoCaruana : “Anticlimax” .

@Wish4Vishy: “Game 5 is a hurridly played Draw”.

@GMJtis:“So, decent day at the office for both. MC has shown good prep at last, VA got something anyway, but didn’t make much of it”.

A quick game, and a dull press conference, according to @closetgm: “I really have to switch off from this Carlsen – Anand press-con. What a dry uninteresting affair! “

The keywords today: dry, uninteresting, anticlimax: where do we put this game in tomorrow’s paper? @shawshankone has an idea:

“Jr Reporter: Sir the Carlsen-Anand game was fabulous

Sr R: Any fights?

JR: No

SR: Abuses?

JR: No

SR: Skirts?

JR: No

SR: Put it on last page”

Last tweet for today: @LennartOotes: “Jeez, literally did nothing work related today but staring at a computer screen. Really need a positive work attitude”.

Phew, quite a busy day yesterday, don’t you think, Jonathan Tisdall? @GMjts:” I ended a long day of chess and politics yesterday by randomly tuning into the Borgias, coincidentally, an episode about a papal election…”

@MarkTwic: “How’s everyone feeling this morning? Or is it impossible to afford to get drunk in Tromso? I’m half asleep, late TWIC finish.”

Mig has some good news, though: @chessninja: “Only upside today is being able to unfollow Kirsan trolls now that tracking the official propaganda is no longer required for campaign.”

@GMastrokoukos: “Who is a troll, who is objective and who is in touch with reality has been proven (again) in these elections.”

@Kasparov63: “Yesterday’s election was a good day for 110 voters and a bad day for 110 million chessplayers. My thanks to all who supported me and chess.”

@ColCrouch: “It’s a bad sign that the losers of an election blame the voters.”

So what to do now? Any suggestions? @chessclublive:” Never has breaking away from FIDE made more sense. Kasparov could head up a rival organisation, boxing has many…”

Back to chess, back to Tromsø

Enough politics for now, let us concentrate on the games and matches in the penultimate round, the last round before the last rest day on Wednesday. I know that it is inflationary to use the words “big match” again, but Russia vs Ukraine is a big match: @GMjtis:” Russian women were shaky yesterday vs. Armenia – Final and most dramatic hurdle – today vs Ukraine, with Lagno facing former teammates.”

What about the open section @EinarGausel? :“Today it’s France vs China for all the marbles in the open section.” @chessninja: “Dammit, USA-Argentina, my two patrias, paired today in the Open Olympiad. May have to split the list, as they say.” @garylanechess tries to predict the England match (again): “England to beat Sweden 3-1, surely I can’t get it wrong again”.

The question of the day, by @TarjeiJS: “So how many losses will Russia face in Norway today? The Russian Men, Women and lawyers in court can potentially lose!”

Big story for the Norwegians today:

@Tromso2014: “Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, visited the Olympiad today and made the first move on Magnus Carlsen’s board”.

Her comment in the NRK Studio after she made the opening move was picked up by @TarjeiJS:“It was actually Magnus Carlsen who decided which move to make.” @PattyLlaneza: “Are you sure the Norwegian Prime Minister played just the first move? The rest is all Carlsen’s doing? Seriously?”

It is quite an unusual opening Magnus choose today, am I right, @bennedik?“Magnus Carlsen is playing a rare bird of an opening today.” @sellig1947: “Romantic opening but Magnus playing again with fire. He could get burnt this time.”

@Majnu2006: “Magnus Carlsen in trouble against Saric. I have reason to believe that Magnus is human”. @PoisonedPwnPress: “Carlsen using Chess Olympiad as a bizarre training ground? Get a losing position and then practicing his defensive skills by fighting back?”

@chessnotes:“Seems safe to say that Magnus doesn’t play as well in Norway. Too many distractions?” @Outis6 explains:”It’s all those hot Norwegian chicks. You’d have trouble concentrating too.”

@theclosetgm: “Honestly, if Saric loses this game (or even draws it), Croatia should just deport him”.

@sergiofelter: “Anish Giri playing strong. Good tower attack against Kasimdzhanov”.

@EinarGausel: “Bad day at the office for Ivanchuk. Lost in 26 moves with white vs Mamedyarov.” @tamz029:“Sad to see golden oldies perform badly. Another loss for Ivanchuk, Kramnik out of top 10 and Kamsky out of the 2700-club.”

One “oldie” is doing fine , though: @MarkTWIC:“Michael Adams having a tremendous Olympiad. Maybe even secured gold on one if he doesn’t play the final round.” @anBhanna: “I hope he rests tomorrow and gets a medal. he should move over 2750 again after today.”

What is happening in the top match China vs France? @PoisonedPwnPress: “Yu Yangi up a pawn, and maybe more, against Fressinet. Could this be the defining game of the Chess Olympiad?” @ejhchess: “While everybody’s watching Carlsen lose, China might just have won the Olympiad”.

@nvmea: “YU YANGYI YOU LOVELY BOY!”

@top40chess: “Yu continues his incredible performance at the Chess Olympiad – he is now at 2696.1, up from world #76 to world #49”

Women’s section

Again, it’s all about Magnus on Twitter today. Enough tweets to write an extra edition “Saric vs. Carlsen in 10 tweets” ! Again, not that many tweets about the women’s section.

@Tromso2014:“Very tense match today between Russia and Ukraine, with Lahno facing her former country.”

@PoisonedPwnPress:“Ukraine has serious chances to beat Russia in the women’s section. 2 games drawn, Ukraine edge on 2 remaining”.

One of those remaining games was a real nail-biter: @nvmea:“Zhukova has been in time trouble since move 15 and she’s done just about well. Remind me who’s she married to”.

@PoisonedPwnPress: “Girya’s luck in saving lost positions has run out. Ukraine making things interesting, on the verge of beating Russia!!

@FSTIMJP: “I thought some chess experts claimed a few rounds ago that no one can stop Russia any more. How come lost in r10?”

RUS vs UKR is a politically charged match: @chesscampeona:“I am happy that the Russian & Ukrainian women could sit to play chess in peace and harmony. Hint, Hint, Putin”.

@pogonina:“ It’s a game of nerves. Our team lost to Ukraine 1.5-2.5, but Spain tied China 2-2. We are still 1 match point up going into the final round”.

@Eljanov: “I won my game today but we only drew with Azerbaijan. Natasha made my day! Congrats to our girls!”

Let’s go back to the Norway vs Croatia match (open section)…

@einargausel:“Slugsfest between Lie and Kozul is still a complete mess. The latter has 4 pieces for Q and R. Both kings naked” , and added later:”Lie got lit up like a Christmas tree by Kozul. Norway loses to Croatia.” What about Magnus? @MarkTWIC: “The list of players with a plus score against Carlsen goes up by one!

And to make the score even worse: @TarjeiJS: “Hammer loses too. Norway completely demolished by Croatia in what should’ve been a close match: 0,5-3,5″

@tromso2014: “Jon Ludvig Hammer was the last man standing…”

Bad news for the Norwegians, good news for Iceland!

@skaksamband: “The Icelanders are doing excellent things at Tromso2014 and are leading the Nordic Championship after 10 rounds!” Is that ok with you, @EivindSalen? “I am happy with that, and hope you can prove again the smallest is sometimes the greatest.”

Will Sam Shankland win a medal? @ChessVibes: “Good chance Sam Shankland, on 8.5/9, will win gold for board 5 since Palestine’s Christian Michel Yunis, who was on 7.0/7, lost today.” What do you think, @DanielRensch? “Sam. F*ing. Shankland. That’s all I have to say.”

Rest day

Last chance: @PolariaTromso:“Rest day tomorrow. Half price on tickets to Polaria for all accredited in the Chess Olympics.”

And one last tweet for today:”@chessnotes: “Vishy should lobby hard to get 2014 World Championship moved to Norway. Magnus is vulnerable at home.”